


Regina

by kyallu



Category: The Song of the Lioness - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/M, Forum: TPE Writing Challenges
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-05
Updated: 2012-01-10
Packaged: 2018-01-27 14:29:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1713965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyallu/pseuds/kyallu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his Coronation, Jonathan and Thayet adjust to each other, taking careful steps on the road from infatuation to partnership and love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. a newborn king to see

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the [Tamora Pierce Experiment: Writing Challenges](http://www.fanfiction.net/forum/The_Tamora_Pierce_Experiment_Writing_Challenges/70302/) Dec 2011/Jan 2012 "Seven Days of Midwinter" Challenge.
> 
> Day 1 - "Night" / Prompt: "Come, they told me. A newborn king to see."

The side of Jon's bed dips. Thayet's proximity would be inappropriate, but the earthquake tore down his bedchamber wall. They're practically in _public_.

"They're waiting for me," he surmises.

"At least you're not pretending ignorance."

"My people will see their new king being useless." The worry has weighed on him like endless night.

For all that Thayet's face dazzled him, it's easier to be dazzled by her mind.

"But they will _see_ you, my lord." She is, momentarily, somewhere distant. "And see you are doing _something_."

Sarain. Her mother. Jon sees shared knowledge on her face, in the breaking light.


	2. love blossoming in this house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some time during Tortall's rebuilding, Jonathan holds a party. His reasons are not entirely selfless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For day 2 of the 7 Days of Midwinter: "Love Blossoming"
> 
> Theme: House  
> Prompts: Jon, Eleni, Myles, Alex, Thayet, Buri, night, candle, friends, love, visitors, gift, snow, red, songs, cold.
> 
> See if you can spot them all in 100 words.

They leave her K'miri contemplating tomorrow, and his spymaster admiring candlelight warming Eleni's smile. Same thing.

Jon pretends privacy is his Midwinter gift to his friends. They could slip into the palace's hidden nooks. But his gift's not actually intended for _them_.

"I thought Tortall could not be peaceful."

"You could say it still isn't."

Below, Tortallans brave the night's snow for caroling, scarlet from drinking (if Alex _remembered_ this, he'd have lived) together.

"They're almost _all_ happy, or _trying_." Thayet's awed, disbelieving. Pauses. "I could be."

And she's no longer _visiting_ his house.

(His gift is also for himself.)


	3. traditions old and new

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kingdom needs fighters. Thayet knows this. These children are her responsibility now too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3 - "Children"

"This seems an unusual priority, right now."

"Tortall can never have enough fighters," says Gary. "Especially now."

Her feet continue steadily over recently repainted flooring. Her father was Warlord, not King; Tortall's defenses feel no more enigmatic than rebuilding.

She'd met the boy kneeling at Jon's feet, and thought him fully grown. Only now, in contrast, she realizes she was wrong.

"It's Jon's first time," Gary adds.

That explains the emotions across Jon's face: pride, confidence, remembrance. Sorrow.

Thayet sees it all. She is almost his mirror. 

She'd been the one to draw out names, in sequence, for their Ordeals.


	4. Legend of the Crimson Stallion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When traditional Christmas carols meet Tortall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3 - Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer
> 
> That explains... pretty much everything about this chapter.

Among my mother's people, we honor the Crimson Stallion in the nights that seem eternal. It was born with a mane that _blazed_

("Magicked?"

"A more mundane explanation: its color.")

scarlet. Too noticeable for battle, no owner would keep it.

Seasons changed. The very first Midwinter came, with snowstorms hanging like endless veils and with the first K'miri winter battle.

(She finds in his eyes, surprisingly, no scorn for her tale's casual reference to the Dawn of Time).

Only one horse could be seen, and therefore lead the K'miri charge.

("Weaknesses become strengths." Jon touches her soft palm, her calluses.)


	5. proposals (not) bound by politics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If even Sarai, in the distant Kyprish Isles, could be influenced by Tortallan politics... what must Thayet and Jon have worried about during his proposal?

"Your offer's not a secret," Thayet realizes.

"Gossip tends to get out," Jon admits.

"Others won't see my answer for what it is," she says, "but what it _could_ mean." Her answer could be used as living proof of Jon's character.

Jon and Alanna have given her so much, asking no favors in return. Is this one?

"I don't want your agreement for appearances' sake. Or," Jon says, too sharply, like he's afraid, "because you feel you owe something. It's your choice. In Tortall, it always will be."

Even if it's 'No.'

"Then everyone will know that I chose _you_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 5
> 
> For this day, the chapter had to somehow connect to three quotes, one representing the past, one the present, one the future. I chose:
> 
> Past: George sighed and sat down. "I've known nobles who thought I should be grateful for their friendship -- grateful enough to do them all sorts of favours. They wanted a kept thief, not a friend."
> 
> Present: "They had freedom. They had choosing. They chose you. All darkings know. We never forget."
> 
> Future: "It isn't just children who need heroes," Sarai replied, shocked. "Don't you see what she's done for women, for all women? The Lioness, your queen, Lady Knight Keladry, they're living proof that we have a warrior spirit too, that it hasn't been bred out of the luarin blood."


	6. divine cares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mother Goddess had planned for a warrior queen in her Alanna to take care of Tortall; she'd received a Sarain, half-K'miri savage instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 6 - "Gods and Immortals"  
> Theme: Care

Country lines mean nothing to gods, but humans, brief sparks that shine starbright... they're interesting. Pawns and pieces alike.

This woman is neither her first nor her last, but for Alanna she fashions a Destiny. She visits one night, a sweep of forest green and echoes of baying bloodhounds, and crafts her favored a path forward as warrior queen, to care for Alanna's beloved Tortall.

A single crossroads, and Alanna's destiny changes hands to a Sarain, half K'miri savage's.

Alanna is warrior still, but this queen will care for drought-stricken Tortall. As much mother as protector.

Fascinating.

She blesses them.


	7. and that's it, then

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 7 - "Good"

It's not always easy.

Jonathan's infatuation fades away as his actual relationship with her grows. (His poetry doesn't.) Thayet learns that sometimes she can let herself hope, and dream, and act on what she wants.

In the indeterminate time between one dynamic and the next (because relationships cannot be cleanly defined in stages) they wonder. Argue. Find compromises. Argue more then they can't. Spend time apart when she visits the desert, even if to the Voice, she is not entirely out of reach.

Then they're together again, and life is better. Good turned difficult, but amazing.

So that's it, then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end


End file.
